Business Proposal – K-Drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

Forgiveness

Episode 5 of Business Proposal begins with Tae-moo standing outside Ha-ri’s house and finding out about her identity as Geum-hui.

Tae-moo goes over all of their interactions in his head, becoming angrier and angrier that Ha-ri deceived him.

At work, Ha-ri gets a text from Tae-moo asking her to meet him near her workplace. She rushes to meet him for coffee. There, he asks her where she works. He says he realized he doesn’t know much about her and wants to get to know her better, but she continues to lie to him.

On the phone, he schedules a meeting with her food development team right in front of her. When she arrives late, he requests that she redo her ravioli product to lower its cost while maintaining its quality.

Seong-hoon notices Tae-moo’s emotional treatment of Ha-ri. Tae-moo informs him of her true identity and promises he will make her realize the mistake she’s made.

A montage shows Ha-ri working and experimenting on different ravioli products, but Tae-moo disapproves of each one.

One day, Chairman Kang visits the company for lunch. He mentions the upcoming Founding Anniversary Ceremony. The chairman also asks after Geum-hui, requesting that Tae-moo schedule a meeting between all of them.

Tae-moo later meets with Ha-ri (as Geum-hui) and asks her to attend the ceremony. She tries to make an excuse, but he catches her on it . He insists she’ll have to pay the penalty fee in their contract if she can’t make it to the event. 

Seong-hoon tells Tae-moo he feels sorry for Ha-ri. After all, this whole plan was Tae-moo’s idea, and he even made it sound like a threat to Ha-ri. He remarks to him that he tends to lose his calm in situations that involve Ha-ri.

In the flat next door, Young-seo tells Ha-ri about the lamp she received as a gift from her new neighbour. The camera zooms in on the lamp and their voices become muffled, as if the lamp is bugged.

At work the next day, Ha-ri finds that her proposal for Bucket List Fish won her a major award. However, when she realizes she’ll receive an award from President Kang himself at the Founder’s Ceremony, her celebration is cut short.

She decides to build a plan in advance so she won’t have to attend as Ha-ri. Tae-moo has a plan to trap her, however. He sends her entire family an invitation so that everyone in her life will expect her to be there. Ha-ri dreams that she tries to be two people at once but can’t pull it off.

Young-seo meanwhile runs into Seong-hoon at a new restaurant. When they are forced to sit together, she jokingly draws a line between their seats and insists neither of them cross it.

The night before the ceremony, Ha-ri drinks too much at a dinner with her colleagues. She calls Tae-moo to says she can’t attend the ceremony but can’t pay the penalty fee either. 

She trips and accidentally hangs up. When he can’t reach her, Tae-moo gets in his car and tries to find her.

He runs around to different shops, eventually ending up at the park, where he finds Ha-ri lying inside a tunnel slide. She tells him this must be a dream; he wouldn’t chase after her in real life. She says since this is a dream, she wants to tell him a secret. She admits she is Ha-ri and Geum-hui, apologizing for everything. Eventually, one of her co-workers comes looking for her, and Tae-moo leaves.

The next morning, she wakes up to a text from Tae-moo saying he has fired her. She celebrates, realizing she doesn’t have to worry so much any more.

Tae-moo has forgiven Ha-ri. He thinks his brain has confused him into thinking he’s interested in her, so he goes on a business trip to try to take his mind off her. But on his trip, he starts seeing Ha-ri everywhere. An imaginary Ha-ri even tries to get him to admit his feelings for her!

Meanwhile, Ha-ri remembers her time with Tae-moo. She thought she would be relieved to be freed from her obligation to him. She receives a call from Chairman Kang though, who asks her to dinner. So, she calls Tae-moo to ask what she should do, but he doesn’t answer

At her flat, Young-seo accidentally knocks over the lamp from her neighbour and finds a bug implanted in the bulb. She bags up the pieces and goes outside to head to the police station, but the neighbour stops her outside.

He picks up the bag she dropped. He takes it, insisting he’ll fix it for her. When Seong-hoon returns from the business trip, the neighbour knocks Young-seo over and runs with the lamp. Seong-hoon chases after him, and they fight, but Seong-hoon eventually pins him to the ground.

As Tae-moo is about to meet his grandfather for dinner, he calls Seong-hoon, who tells him about the incident. Just then, Ha-ri arrives. Tae-moo didn’t know she was coming, but she says she had to come as the chairman requested.

He asks if she knows about what happened to Young-seo. She doesn’t, so he grabs her arm to pull her away. The episode ends with him calling her “Ha-ri,” although she’s dressed as Geum-hui.

The Episode Review

So much happens in Business Proposal’s latest episode, from a chase scene to a drunk confession. At the centre of it all is Tae-moo and his inner war.

The series has done a believable job building up the conflict between Tae-moo’s feelings and his pride. Despite his atrocious behaviour toward Ha-ri, he makes me believe that he truly cares for her. Though I’ve lost some respect for him from this episode’s events, the complexities of his character are compelling.

Ha-ri remains someone to root for through everything. She is two distinct, yet similarly charming personas as Ha-ri and Geum-hui–which speaks to Kim Se-jeong’s nuanced portrayal of the character.

Do you think the incident with the lamp will bring Seong-hoon and Young-seo closer together? And will Tae-moo allow himself to get closer to Ha-ri?

Now that Ha-ri’s secret is out, they could simply drop the charade. I’m holding out hope, however, that they will continue to work together in order to convince Chairman Kang of their fake relationship.